Students choose extra, not exodus, as SUSD lowers credit requirement

Thursday

Jan 24, 2013 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - Considering she long ago accumulated all the credits she needs to get her diploma, it might seem surprising that Martie Acob has chosen to stick around for her entire senior year at Chavez High School.

Roger Phillips

STOCKTON - Considering she long ago accumulated all the credits she needs to get her diploma, it might seem surprising that Martie Acob has chosen to stick around for her entire senior year at Chavez High School.

But Acob, 17, is in no rush to leave. A member of the National Honors Society, Acob is taking Advanced Placement English, is in a new San Joaquin Delta College psychology class offered at Chavez, is serving on the student council and is participating in five clubs.

"It's just a lot of bonding time with my friends," Acob said of her senior year. "There wasn't really anything to do outside school."

This year, it seemed more conceivable than ever that there could have been an early exodus from Stockton Unified of high school students who had more than enough credits to graduate ahead of time.

The reason was simple: In 2011, the district lowered its credit requirement for graduation from 230 to 210, a change made for fiscal reasons tied to California's budget woes and the state's complex rules for funding public education. The Class of 2013 is the first affected by the reduced credit requirement.

But no exodus has occurred, and though some educators express concern that the change might have made it too easy to graduate from Stockton Unified, district officials say the reduction actually has been positive for many students.

"I don't think this necessarily dumbs down the curriculum or dumbs down what the kids are getting," said Superintendent Steve Lowder, who was not with Stockton Unified when the credit requirements were reduced.

Stockton Teachers Association President Ellen Old is not convinced. Old said it has not been "long enough to know how this plays out" and added, "Even though it might be expedient, I don't really see how it's actually preparing our kids."

The reduction in required credits did not alter Stockton Unified's core-curriculum requirements for its students - classes like English, math and social studies. The core requirements, according to district officials, are the ones students struggle the most to fulfill. As a result, they say, it really is no easier now for marginal students to graduate than it was in the past.

As for thriving students, Edison Principal Brian Biedermann said he tries to "talk them down" when they ask to leave early. He said students who want to leave early are required to have a post-graduation plan - college or a job - before the school will sign off on an early departure.

High-performing students also have plenty of incentive to continue in high school even after they have enough core credits to graduate, Stockton Unified officials say.

Those incentives include an increasing number of college-credit classes offered at Stockton Unified high schools, the opportunity to take electives in areas of interest and the chance to participate in internships tied to students' particular career aspirations.

Two of Acob's high-achieving and credit-heavy friends, Maricar Doctor and Sophia Vorak, fall into the latter category. Both attend Chavez's health academy, and both are spending some of their senior-year school time working at medical-related internships.

"Internships give us an opportunity to see what field we want to be in so when college starts, we know what we want to do," said the aptly-named Doctor, who is interning at a downtown diabetes clinic. "It's hands-on."

Some students, though, are bothered by the reduced graduation requirement.

"I feel like it's giving people an easy path," said one, 17-year-old Chavez senior Jessica Zaragoza. "Graduating from high school should be something you earn, not something that's given to you."

Stockton Unified's change left it with the lowest credit requirement among the largest districts in San Joaquin County. Lincoln Unified and Lodi Unified both require 230 credits. Tracy requires 220. Manteca requires 225 at its traditional high schools, 275 at Lathrop and Sierra highs, which operate on block schedules.

In Stockton Unified, Edison and Chavez both operate on block schedules, which allow students to take more classes and amass more credits during their high school years. But at least for now, the credit requirements at Stockton Unified's block schools are the same as they are at the schools operating on traditional schedules.

Lowder said his former district, Hemet Unified, made the same change as Stockton Unified to its credit requirements two years ago during his tenure in the Southern California district. Lowder said the change did not harm Hemet students and also is unlikely to have a negative effect in Stockton Unified.

"As a kid in high school, I know I took extra periods all the time just because I wanted to," Lowder said. "I don't really think this is the beginning of the demise. ... I think we're going to have the same kind of experience here that we had in Hemet, which was a positive experience."